Jewel River

Fun

Repeat Play

Value

Product Information

What It Is

Jewel River is an app for the youngest iPad user to practice the early-learning math concept of subatizing, which is the ability to instantly recognize quantities without even counting. The goal of the game is to collect jewels from the river to build houses. To collect the jewels, kids have to recognize and process how many jewels the colorful flying horse needs. When you first start the game, you'll briefly see a cluster of three to five circles next to the winged horse. Your job is to drag and drop the matching amount of jewels from the river to the horse. When you have the right quantities, hold down the two wings to send the horse off to your neighborhood. Once you're at the neighborhood, a quick tap will add the jewels to your house. The game is over when you have collected enough jewels to fill all the houses in your neighborhood.

Jewel River helps kids learn about quantities. It does this by starting the game with visual support of how many jewels to add. That means kids can start by placing one jewel on top of one circle. As your child plays, the app gets more challenging by removing those visual supports. Kids get a chance to see the cluster of three to five circles briefly, and then they drag and drop that many jewels without any help from the app. It's no big deal if you forget how many jewels the horse asks for. There are help features, which are easy for young kids to use.

In the app, there are options for one and two players.

Is It Fun?

We like that this app can be played by a child solo or with an adult. Multi-player features means kids are talking or learning alongside their loved ones. Jewel River is an excellent early-learning app that is good for the home, and you can also use it in early childhood centers and pre-K classrooms.